This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to an electrical connector for connecting a catheter to a monitoring or recording device.
Catheters are commonly employed for a variety of medical purposes, such as monitoring various physiological functions, stimulating or ablating tissue, sampling bodily fluids and the like. Such catheters commonly comprise an elongate flexible plastic member adapted to be positioned in a body cavity. When used for monitoring physiological functions, such as intracardiac electrocardiograms or for stimulating or ablating tissue, such catheters normally include one or more sensors and/or electrodes adjacent to its distal end. Electrical conductors extend through lumens formed in the catheter between the electrodes and/or sensors to terminals at the proximal end of the catheter.
Prior art intracardiac electrode catheters included bare metal pin connectors at their proximal end for connection to monitoring or recording devices. Such bare metal electrodes were not wholly satisfactory because of susceptibility to contacting electrical grounds or sources of electrical energy.